Jon Finkel

Jon Finkel (born May 18, 1978^[4] in Brockport, New York) is an American Magic: The Gathering and poker player.^[1] Finkel is one of the most decorated players in the history of professional Magic: The Gathering play and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time.^[5][6] During his career he has won 3 Grand Prix events and made the Top 8 of a record 14 Pro Tour events, winning three of those. In the year 2000, he became the Magic: The Gathering World Champion, as well as playing for the United States National Team, which won the team portion of the competition.

Career

Finkel moved with his family to Woking, England in the summer of 1992 and learned about Magic: The Gathering at a local game shop named Fun and Games shortly thereafter. After he returned to the New York area in 1995 Finkel quickly made friends with the "OMS brothers", Steven and Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz.^[1]

In 1996 the first Pro Tour was held in New York. Finkel competed in the Junior Division of the tournament, made it to the Top 8, and won a $1,000 scholarship. After reaching another Top 8 in the Junior Division of Pro Tour Columbus Finkel had his first appearance in the senior competition of the Pro Tour at the 1996 World Championship in Seattle. A ninth place finish earned him $3,200.

Finkel had three Top 16 finishes in the 1996–97 season, but never made it to the finals. His first Top 8 appearance was at Pro Tour Chicago 1997. In the same season Finkel won his first Grand Prix title in Rio de Janeiro, his first Pro Tour title in New York; finished third at US Nationals and the World Championship,^[7] and eventually claimed the Pro Player of the Year title.

The 1998–99 season opened with Finkel winning another Grand Prix in Boston and making his third consecutive Top 8 appearance, a feat only once before achieved by Scott Johns. Finkel finished the season second to Kai Budde in the Pro Player of the Year race. At the first Team Pro Tour in Washington the following season Finkel finished third with his friends and team mates Daniel and Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz. After some mediocre finishes in the middle of the season Finkel won the US Nationals as well as the team and the individual portion of the World Championship. Eventually Finkel finished third in the Pro Player of the Year race. Later in 2000 Finkel also won the Magic Invitational, giving him the chance to design his own Magic card. His creation, Shadowmage Infiltrator, debuted in the Odyssey set and was later reprinted in Time Spiral.^[8]

After two additional Top 8 appearances in the 2000–01 season Finkel's performances dropped in the 2001–02 season. Two Top 8s in 2002–03 were followed by another drop in 2003–04 and eventually by Finkel retiring from professional play. In 2005 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the vote leader of the inaugural class. This allowed him to attend further Pro Tours without having to qualify. In 2008 Finkel thus attended and won Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, becoming the first player to win a Pro Tour after his induction into the Hall of Fame. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater commented on the occasion, "[Finkel] is the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen. His accomplishments are rivaled by only one other man [Budde]".

In recent years, Finkel, like fellow Magic players David Williams and Noah Boeken, has been playing in high-level poker tournaments. Finkel also has been involved with Tenacious Games in the development of their game The Spoils as an advisor since 2002. In 2006, he also became an investor in the company.

He currently works as a managing partner at the hedge fund Landscape Capital Management.

In 2011, an intern for tech website Gizmodo wrote an article about two dates she had with Finkel,^[9] which was picked up by Forbes, The Washington Post and CBS. The article was critical of Finkel for not revealing he played Magic on his OkCupid dating profile, eliciting negative comments against the writer from a number of people involved in tech and geek culture, notably actress Felicia Day and Playboy Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood.^[10][11]

Accomplishments

Last updated: August 31, 2012
Source: Wizards.com

In addition Finkel was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the class of 2005 vote leader. Finkel holds the highest vote percentage of any inductee.

In Popular Culture

Finkel is the subject of a 2005 biography by author David Kushner, entitled Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids--How a Gang of Geeks Beat the Odds and Stormed Las Vegas. The book recounts Finkel's rise to Magic stardom and his subsequent exploits as a poker player and Blackjack card counter.

References

External links

• Hendon Mob poker tournament results

Preceded by Canada Gary Krakower Michael Donais Ed Ito Gabriel Tsang	Magic: The Gathering Team World Champion With: Matt Linde Mike Long Bryce Currence 1998	Succeeded by United States Kyle Rose John Hunka Zvi Mowshowitz Charles Kornblith
Preceded by Paul McCabe	Pro Player of the Year 1997–98	Succeeded by Kai Budde
Preceded by Kyle Rose	Magic US National Champion 2000	Succeeded by Trevor Blackwell
Preceded by Kai Budde	Magic World Champion 2000	Succeeded by Tom van de Logt
Preceded by United States Kyle Rose John Hunka Zvi Mowshowitz Charles Kornblith	Magic: The Gathering Team World Champion With: Chris Benafel Frank Hernandez Aaron Forsythe 2000	Succeeded by United States Eugene Harvey Trevor Blackwell Brian Hegstad
Preceded by Chris Pikula	Magic Invitational Champion 2000	Succeeded by Kai Budde